Boyhood Adventures: Chapter One: Tag You're It!
by wolfGirl001
Summary: If Riley and Ben had been brothers, or even just really good friends when they were really young like nine, how a game of tag would have turned out. Enjoy and review please!
1. Chapter 1

Tag, You're it!

_Summary: If Riley and Ben had known each other as little kids, (who know? Maybe they did.) if they were brothers or even friends. How a simple game of tag would have gone. One Shot. Enjoy!_

**Disclaimer: I only own the DVD National Treasure, I don't own any characters I may mention here.**

I got this idea after babysitting some kids and they wanted to play outside. They were just friends, but by how they were acting, you would have thought they were brothers.

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Riley swung back-and-forth on the swing in his backyard. It was making that high-pitched screeching sound again. It probably needs some lubricant. Riley thought. He heard footsteps pounding on the grass behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his best friend, Ben, racing toward him. But before he could get up from the swing Ben pushed his back and sent him flying into the ground.

"Hey! Ben! What was that for?" Riley shouted into the grass.

"Nothing. But you're it." Ben raced away from Riley and turned to look over his shoulder to see if Riley was picking up on the game. But Riley was getting up from the ground and brushing himself off, glaring at Ben.

"Sorry Riley, I didn't mean to hurt you." Ben sounded concerned, he walked closer toward Riley. As soon as Ben was in-reach, Riley jumped forward and barley touched Ben's T-shirt.

"You're it!" He yelled running in the opposite direction.

"That's not fair! You cheated!" Ben ran after him. They ran around the yard screaming, flitting back and forth barley tapping each other's arms or torso's.

Then Ben swung around past Riley and accidentally pinched him.

"OW! Ben!" Riley clutched his hurt arm close to his body and glowered at Ben.

"Come on Riley, I'm not falling for that again!" Ben shouted. "You have to tag me fair-and-square!"

"I'm not faking this time! That really hurt!" Riley, apparently forgetting about his injured arm, stalked toward Ben.

"Ahhhhh!" Ben took a running start toward Riley and knocked him over. Ben tickled his sides with his fingers, poking Riley's skinny frame with his fingers. Turning the game of tag into a tickle-fight.

"Ben! Stop!" Riley tried to say through giggles. "Stop making me laugh, I can't breath!"

Ben stopping prodding Riley's sides, and instead flopped onto his back. "I love summer."

"Me too." They stared up into the clouds, laying on the impossibly green grass of Riley's backyard.

"Let's have a campout." Ben suggested. "In my backyard, we can get a real tent and fire and everything."

"With smores?"Riley asked optimistically.

"Yeah! It wouldn't be a campout without smores!" They laid there a while more.

"You're my best friend, Ben." Riley said all-of-a-sudden.

"You're my best friend too Riley." With that they headed over to Ben's house to get the tent and begin their amazing campout adventure.

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_At least it might be a One-Shot, if I get good reviews, I might continue this into a series. So read and review! I'm open for all kinds, nice and constructive criticism! Thanks!_


	2. Chapter 2: The CampOut

Hey, I'm writing a second chapter to Boyhood Adventures, thanks to _Miss Fenway__, __aLLiCaT225__, _and _BeAtLeS-luv93_. A special thanks to _Miss Fenway_ for giving me the idea for this chapter. Thanks guys! :D

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Ben's father had helped Ben and Riley put up the tent, and collect all the firewood for their little campout. Ben's mother had warned them to not 'burn the house down along with the tent'. So they couldn't have the fire for too long. Ben and Riley had picked point, long sticks for their marshmallow sticks, and while they happened to burn more of the marshmallows than wood, they were soon on a sugar high running around the vast yard.

"Ben! Ben! Catch me!" Riley screamed as he sprinted past the slightly older boy. Ben raced after Riley in an attempt to catch him, but sadly he failed.

"That's not fair Riley! You've had more marshmallows that me!" Ben said as he popped one in his mouth. Riley just kept giggling as he ran. Soon the boys had tired down enough to sit on the grass. They were both lying on their backs looking up at the stars.

"I wonder why some are so bright." Ben pointed at the North Star as an example.

"Prolly because they ones that are brighter are either more powerful, or closer. Like a light bulb." Riley guessed.

"Yeah, your probably right." They laid there a long time just star gazing.

"I'm cold Ben." Riley shivered.

"Let's go in the tent then, and we can tell ghost stories!" The two boys got up from the wet grass and headed to the tent, pulling the flap open. There inside were their two sleeping bags and pillows. Riley sat on a red sleeping bag that had a stuffed tiger sitting on the pillow. He stuffed it under his arm as he sat down. Ben plopped himself down on the blue sleeping bag.

"Can I start Ben?" Riley rocked back and forth on his knees, waiting for his best friend's response.

"Sure, I always start." Ben laid back on his pillow.

"Okay, but it's kinda short." Riley's blue eyes looked at Ben out of the corner.

"Go ahead." Riley smiled and began his story

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_"Right now in laboratories all across America scientists are building artificial intelligence. They are creating robots. But as I look into the future I can see terrible things happening, the robots will start to control us. And we will have to give in, because they are stronger than us. And then we will all be enslaved by the very creature that we created."_

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"Did you like it?" Riley looked over at Ben. Ben's eyes were in a puzzled expression and he had sat up to better listen to Riley.

"Um, that was kinda creepy Riley." Ben commented.

"I thought you'd like it, your stories are always scary too. With all those mummies and zombies, and old dead important people." Riley shivered again.

"It wasn't bad, just weird. Where did you hear it?"

"My dad was explaining it to my mom, I think it's from some movie." Riley shrugged.

"Oh, well now it's my turn." Ben folded his hands in his lap and started his story.

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"_It was 1832. Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of a secret society known as the Masons. And he knew he was dying. He woke up his stable boy in the middle of the night and ordered him to take him to the White House to see Andrew Jackson, because it was urgent that he speak to the president. No. He never got the chance. The president wasn't there that night. But Charles Carroll had a secret. So he took into his confidence the one person he could, my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather, Thomas Gates. A treasure. A treasure beyond all imagining. A treasure that had been fought over for centuries, by tyrants, pharaohs, emperors, warlords. And every time it changed hands it grew larger. And then suddenly it vanished. It didn't reappear for more than a thousand years, when knights from the First Crusade discovered secret vaults beneath the Temple of Solomon. You see, the knights who found the vaults believed that the treasure was too great for any one man - not even a king. They brought the treasure back to Europe and took the name "the Knights Templar". Over the next century they smuggled it out of Europe and they formed a new brotherhood called the Freemasons, in honor of the builders of the great temple. War followed. By the time of the American Revolution the treasure had been hidden again. By then the Masons included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere. They knew they had to make sure the treasure would never fall into the hands of the British. So they devised a series of clues and maps to its location. Over time the clues were lost or forgotten, until only one remained, and that was the secret that Charles Carroll entrusted to young Thomas Gates. Charlotte. The secret lies with Charlotte."_

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Riley's eyes were wide open and he had stopped rocking back and forth on his knees and now sat still on his sleeping bag.

"That was awesome!" He whispered

"Thanks, I heard it from my grandpa." Ben smiled thinking back to a couple days ago when he had heard the story.

"It that true?" Ben snapped out of his memory.

"Of course it's true! And one day I'm going to find that treasure, and your going to be there to help me." Ben held out his hand. "Deal?"

Riley looked at Ben's hand and then grasped it in his own. "Deal!" They shook hard. Suddenly they heard a noise outside the tent, and froze, still grasping each-other's hands. They both saw the zipper of the tent flap start to go up as it made that _zzzzzzzzzzz_ sound. They still grasped each-other's hands. Now more in desperation than in agreement. Then a brown head of hair popped it's way into the green tent.

"Aren't you two asleep yet?" Ben's father's voice whispered in the dull glow from the lantern.

"Oh, Dad! Yeah, we were just finishing up telling ghost stories." Ben sent a quick don't-tell-my-dad-about-the-story-I-just-told-you look. He had remembered the ride home that night when his father had found him and his grandfather talking about the legend in the attic. Riley caught the gaze and nodded, pushing himself into the sleeping bag.

"Night boys."

"Night Dad."

"Night Mr. Gates" Ben's father's footsteps faded out in the direction of the house. It was silent for a bit.

"Ben, do you really believe in the treasure?" Riley asked.

"Yes, I really do. And I'm going to stop at nothing to find it." Ben's mind had been made up from the moment his grandfather had finished the story. He would find that treasure.

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Hope you like it! Thanks again to the reviewers of my last story, please review again! Tell me if you want any more, the next day, the next year, or if it might skip a few years and learn more about Riley's parents, or about Ben's treasure hunting in high school. Just ideas, tell me if you like any of them! Thanks!

Oh-yes, and the movie that Riley describes is _The Matrix_ in case anyone cared.

WolfGirl001


	3. Chapter 3: Blueberries

I kinda forgot about this for a LONG time, so I'm sorry for that. But I got a new part up- it was a little difficult trying to comeback to this after so long. I hope it's sufficient!

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The sunlight illuminated the inside of the tent, casting everything in a yellow-ish glow. Riley had found his way out of the red sleeping bag and was laying on top, all crumpled up. His stuffed tiger had been abandoned. Ben hadn't moved an inch all night, laying perfectly straight in his blue sleeping bag. The flap unzipped, but this time neither Ben nor Riley woke up. The sane brown head of hair pushed it's way through the opening. In the morning light the few gray hairs shone out like beacons from Patrick's head.

"Boys?" The rough voice asked. Ben stirred, cracking open an eye.

"Hey Dad."

"Good morning Ben." He glanced at Riley's twitching figure. "Is Riley awake?"

"I don't think so." They both stared at Riley for a bit until Mr. Gates told Ben to follow him inside for breakfast. As they were eating their blueberry pancakes Riley awoke.

Riley wasn't alarmed when he saw Ben's empty sleeping bag- he was probably inside, enjoying a hot breakfast. Riley was contemplating what Ben had been mumbling last night when he thought Riley was sleeping.

*9 hours ago*

Ben was pondering the treasure. After telling Riley the story he'd begun thinking again. The only way he could clearly think though was to talk out-loud to himself. Ben glanced over at Riley. His back was to Ben, and his breathing seemed calmed and deep.

"Charlotte." Ben whispered, checking to see if Riley moved. He didn't. "The secret lies with Charlotte." In Ben's hand was the old scrap of 17th-century paper. Crumpled and rough with much age. "But where is Charlotte? And what is she?" The logical answer would be a person. But there were so many people who were named Charlotte. He had looked it up on the internet. "Not a person, too many possibilities." Ben found himself saying. Ben yawned, growing tired. "Maybe she's a place." Ben closed his eyes and fell asleep, whispering the name.

Riley had head the whole conversation Ben had had with himself. He was now wondering the same thing. Would the free masons have meant Charlotte to be a person, and so it was going to be immensely hard to ever find her and her secret. Or was Ben right. And it was a place. An echoing rumble came from Riley's stomach. He changed his clothe- as not wanting to walk about the yard in his pajamas- and hurried himself inside.

"Good Morning Riley." Mrs. Gates kissed Riley on the top of his fluffy brown hair. "Would you like some blueberry pancakes?" She indicated by lifting the spatula- a golden-brown pancake on it.

"Thank You very much Mrs. Gates." A plate was passed to Riley with two, hot blueberry pancakes on it. He sat down next to Ben at the kitchen table. Both boys silently chewing their pancakes, unaware that both were think the exact same thing…

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Okay, I left off at a cliffhanger because it's easier for me to write next if it's supposed to be interesting. So viola! I have a path I'm kind-of on for this, but I do greatly appreciate any reviews, suggestions, or criticism. Thankies!

wolfGirl001


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